12/03/2016

Guidance for Surveyors, Providers and Suppliers Regarding the New Emergency Preparedness (EP) Rule

On September 8, 2016 the Federal Register posted the final rule Emergency Preparedness Requirements for Medicare and Medicaid Participating Providers and Suppliers. The regulation goes into effect on November 16, 2016. Health care providers and suppliers affected by this rule must comply and implement all regulations one year after the effective date, on November 16, 2017.

11/03/2016

Cyber Attack on 9-1-1 System Leads to Quick Arrest An 18-year-old was arrested last week after carrying out a cyberattack on the Maricopa County 9-1-1 system. The man posted a link in Twitter which supposedly directed people to a site called “Meet Desai.” However, when people clicked the link it would continually call 9-1-1 and not let the caller hang up. Law enforcement found him quickly using the GPS on his phone, arrested him in class, and confiscated his electronics. The accused said he was on the trail of bugs and viruses that he could change and manipulate. Once he manipulated this one, he set it to call 1+911. He claims he created this to basically make a name for himself in the programming and hacker world, and with the hopes Apple would pay him for finding bugs. He said during questioning the bug was meant to be “funny” and claims its release was accidental. He now faces three felony counts of computer tampering. The volume of calls could have shut down the 9-1-1 system but didn’t and Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office Cyber Crimes Division was able to shut down the application, ending the threat. For now. With a subsection of hackers potentially looking for bugs, programs, and viruses they can either alter or “piggyback” other applications or programs on to, it is anyone’s guess what the next one will look like. Hopefully this particular bug has been patched by now.

09/01/2016

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Science and Technology Directorate (S&T) has announced the Next-Generation Incident Command System (NICS,) an information sharing tool for first responders, is now available worldwide.

NICS is a mobile, web-based communication platform that enables responders on scene at a developing incident to request and receive assistance from remote experts, such as a university researcher or topographic expert, in real time. Conversely, experts can observe an evolving situation and volunteer relevant material or resources.

After successful beta-implementation, NICS has transitioned to the open-source community for wide accessibility, freely available for any interested party.

06/28/2016

The technology management program in the College of Education and Human Development has received another boost from the National Security Agency and the Department of Homeland Security. Texas A&M was recently designated as a National Center of Academic Excellence (CAE) for Cyber Defense both in education and research.

“This helps to put the technology management program on the map as a singularly vital contributor to the cyber education and initiatives at Texas A&M. We have the only undergraduate cybersecurity course that’s offered at the university. It’s coupled with digital ethics and that course helped make this whole thing possible,” explained Dr. Trez Jones, clinical assistant professor who also works half-time at the Cybersecurity Center.

Journalists and commentators mainly on the political right, prompted partly by a government report in March, have been seeking to keep public attention on the possibility of a society-devastating electromagnetic pulse, or EMP. They focus mainly on a nuclear bomb as the cause.

EMPs, whether caused by a bomb or the sun, are an old concern. In 2011, the New York Times’s William Broad reported that former Republican speaker of the house Newt Gingrich had been “ringing alarm bells” about them. In the present venue, a 2014 media report quoted commentators in asking “Could an ‘electric Armageddon’ bring civilization ‘to a cold, dark halt’? Observers in the media consider huge electromagnetic disruptions, both solar and human-caused.” Last September, Physics Today’s David Kramer reported on EMPs.

In recent months, however, conservative media have emphasized them. And though that government report called EMPs a “risk,” reporters and opinion writers have been calling them a “threat.”

In a bland statement about the federal report, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) summarized what it called “electromagnetic risks caused by a man-made EMP or a naturally occurring solar weather event.” Either, the GAO said, “could have a significant impact on the nation’s electric grid as well as other infrastructure sectors...such as communications. These risks could lead to power outages over broad geographic areas for extended durations.” Responding to “congressional requesters” and recalling a 2008 report, the GAO called for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to “identify internal roles to address electromagnetic risks, and collect additional risk inputs to further inform assessment efforts.” It also called for DHS and the Energy Department to “collaborate to ensure critical electrical infrastructure assets are identified” and to “engage with industry stakeholders to identify and prioritize risk-management activities” including R&D.

On April 21, the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee discussed an issue that many states and local governments aren’t addressing: The possibility of a widespread grid power outages that would cause people to be out of electricity for long amounts of time.

According to an article in SC Magazine, the chairman of the committee, Rep. Lou Barletta (R-Penn.), told members that they need to start helping states and local governments prepare for such an event. During the same meeting, Craig Fugate, the administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), said his agency was working with the Department of Energy to develop federal plans to respond to long-term power outages. Part of this operational plan, he said, would address national safety threats caused by long-lasting electrical power outages.

While congressional committee meetings on this subject demonstrate that federal authorities are starting to think about such a disaster, not enough discussion is happening at the state and local level.